Fix [Mac Terminal] The operation couldn’t be completed. Unable to locate a Java Runtime. (update for Ventura/Sonoma)

Terminal Java Error:

The operation couldn’t be completed. Unable to locate a Java Runtime.

Please visit http://www.java.com for information on installing Java.

Error Screenshot:

Reason for the Error:

If you have recently purchased a Mac, or simply formatted your macOS to its factory settings, then by default there is no Java JDK (or JVM) pre-installed on your Mac device.

Hence, when you open the Terminal and run a java or javac command, you will get an error saying this operation couldn’t be completed as the System is unable to locate a Java Runtime.

How to resolve the Error:

To resolve this Java error, you will need to download and install Java JDK or JRE on your Mac.

As of year 2023, you can install Java versions from Java 8 to Java 21 on your device. It is recommended to get a stable LTS (Long Term Supported) version of Java.

List of Java LTS Versions:

1. Java 8
2. Java 11
3. Java 17
4. Java 21

Also, depending upon what type of Mac device you have - Intel Based / M1/M2 Max/Ultra you would need a different kind of setup to run Java natively on your device.




Mac Type vs Java installations:

Mac Chip/Processor Type	Java Compatibility
Apple Silicon (M1/M2)	ARM64 (Java 11 and later)
Intel	x86 x86_64 (Java 8 and later)

You can install x86_64 Java Setup on a M1/M2 based ARM Mac, but the performance will not be at optimum.




Finally there is a list of Java distributions to choose from,

• OpenJDK
• Oracle JDK
• AdoptOpenJDK
• Azul Zulu
• Amazon Corretto
• IBM JDK
• SAP Machine
• Red Hat OpenJDK
• Microsoft Build of OpenJDK
• BellSoft Liberica JDK
• GraalVM



Java 8/11/17 Installation Steps

Instead of download the setup from a website, we can easily install Java on your Mac using package manager like Homebrew.

• Make sure brew is installed on your Mac. Open Terminal and run the below command to check.

  % brew --version
  zsh: command not found: brew
  

  If you get the above error, instead of version details, follow this article to install brew on your Mac - https://code2care.org/howto/install-homebrew-brew-on-m1-mac




To install OpenJDK Java

• Now simply run the below commands to install Java 8/11/17,

  brew install openjdk@8

  Note: There is only x86_64 support for Java 8 so won't work on M1/M2 based Mac.

  brew install openjdk@11

  brew install openjdk@17

  You need not need to worry about the 64/ARM installation, brew will automatically take care of it.

  
  

  To install Amazon Coretto Java JDK

  brew install --cask corretto

  
  

  To install Graal VM Java JDK

  brew install --cask graalvm-jdk

  
  

  To install Oracle Java JDK

  brew install --cask oracle-jdk

  
  

  To install Azul Zulu Java JDK

  brew install --cask zulu




Install Java by download DMG Setup file

If for some reasons you are having issues with brew, you can download Java JDK from the internet as well, we will see an example of how to download and install Amazon AWS Corretto JDK version 17 which is a free of cost distribution and requires no login or email.

1. Open the web browser and go to : https://aws.amazon.com/corretto
2. Now click on "Download Amazon Corretto 17"
3. Now, download .pkg file macOS x64 or macOS aarch64 based on your Mac Type.
4. Open the "amazon-corretto-17-aarch64-macos-jdk.pkg" file from your downloads folder and complete the installations.
5. Open Terminal and you should be able to use Java commands.

If you prefer other distributions.

JDK Distribution	Provider Java download link
OpenJDK	https://openjdk.java.net/
Oracle JDK	https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase-downloads.html
AdoptOpenJDK (Adoptium)	https://adoptium.net/
Azul Zulu	https://www.azul.com/downloads/zulu/
Amazon Corretto	https://aws.amazon.com/corretto/
IBM JDK	https://developer.ibm.com/languages/java/
SAP Machine	https://github.com/SAP/SapMachine
Red Hat OpenJDK	https://developers.redhat.com/products/openjdk/overview
Microsoft Build of OpenJDK	https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/java/openjdk/
BellSoft Liberica JDK	https://bell-sw.com/
GraalVM	https://www.graalvm.org/



This is not an AI-generated article but is demonstrated by a human on an M1 Mac running macOS Sonoma 14.0 and Ventura 13.0.
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Author Info:

Rakesh (He/Him) has over 14+ years of experience in Web and Application development. He is the author of insightful How-To articles for Code2care.

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